Thank you for your
invaluable partnership during 2013. Together
we were able to support Christians in the Middle East and North
Africa who are persecuted on account of their faith. With your support we have monitored, verified
and / or assisted in over 380 cases reported to us this year.

The persecution of Christians is very much in the news this
Christmas. In a moving, short radio broadcast last week William Dalrymple, the travel writer and historian
who ever since writing From the Holy Mountain, 15 years ago, has chronicled the
plight of Christian communities around the Middle East suggested that “The Arab
spring is rapidly turning into a Christian winter.”

Douglas Alexander, the Shadow Foreign Secretary, was quoted
in the paper on Christmas Eve as saying, “Across the world, there will be Christians
this week for whom attending a church service this Christmas is not an act of
faithful witness, but an act of life-risking bravery.”

It’s not just that the word ‘survival’ takes on a very much
more pointed meaning for me this Christmas.
It is also a word I have seen used in a very specific and powerful way
in the context of the Syrian Crisis.

Just before Christmas we received a letter from someone who has
visited our Ministers conference and was to have joined us for our
International Congregational Fellowship Conference last summer … sadly, visa
problems meant he could not travel to join us.

It’s one thing seeing news reports of the awful things that have
happened there.

Quite another to see pictures taken by someone you know of a
church that’s part of our International Congregational Fellowship.

It is gut-wrenching to see those pictures.

You suddenly realise that for many in Syria and in
many other places this question of survival is very, very real.

Reading
through that letter makes for uncomfortable reading.

How important to support people in Syria.

So we are supporting Embrace the Middle East’s Syria appeal – an age old mission organisation
that supports health, disability, educational initiatives in Palestine,
Israel, Egypt, Lebanon,
Jordan and elsewhere in the Middle East.

Through their partners organisations in Lebanon they are working at putting food parcels
together for Refugees in Syria.

More
than 5 million Syrians have fled their homes. At least 700,000 have fled to Lebanon, and
more Syrians are now displaced than any other nationality, the UNHCR says. Many
have left with nothing but the clothes on their backs and are now taking refuge
in temporary accommodation without sanitation, healthcare or food.

Access
to emergency aid is severely limited - people are living in areas too dangerous
for the large aid agencies to enter.

But we can reach the unreachable. Working
through our Lebanese partners, we are empowering a network of Syrian churches
to provide emergency food parcels to the most vulnerable families.

£37.50
will provide a basic food parcel lasting
a family one month.

£9.37
will feed a family for one week – less than the cost of a takeaway.

NEWS
FLASH: The UN has warned that Syrian refugees are at risk as the worst winter
storm in decades sweeps across the Middle East.
Blizzards and freezing rain have hit the region, meaning that the 125,000
refugees living in tents will be enduring extremely harsh conditions. (Updated
13 December 2013.)

It is good to give. But true giving is a two way thing.

My eye fell on words in the letter we had received from our
friend in Syria.

The source of strength is not in ourselves: it
is God himself. We do not survive under this tremendous pressure by focusing on
surviving; and neither do we survive under this pressure by focusing on our own
perceived strength. No, we survive under
this pressure by keeping focused on God: "...who comforts us in all our
troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we
ourselves have received from God." - 2 Corinthians 1:4

They are powerful words that take us right back to where we
started.

It is no exaggeration to say that Christmas can become
something to survive.

It can be overwhelmed by sadness or sickness, by anxiety and
fears for the future, by troubles closer to home. Sad news, concerning news that someone shares
that for some strange, but inescapable reason feels all the worse simply
because it’s Christmas.

Let’s come back to these words and take them very much to
heart, not least because they are spoken from the heart in the most awful of
situations.

Sunday, December 22, 2013

It was great using the water from the Jordan that Sue,
Joan, Ron and Sue brought back when we had a baptism earlier in the year. But that wasn’t the only water Sue brought
back with her. Sue also presented me
with a little bottle of water from Mary’s well in Nazareth.

Go to those wonderful Roman villas at Witcombe and at
Chedoworth here in the Cotswolds and the best part of 2000 years later the
water is still flowing.

In Nazareth
there is but one spring and 2000 years on from the time of Christ it is still
flowing. One tradition has it that Mary
heard the news she was to bear the Christ child on the way to the spring.

And so in with the flowing water here in our water feature
real water that’s come from the spring in Nazareth.

Something special about flowing water.

It’s the water of life we need from day to day.

And in his ministry in that dry, dry land Jesus knew the
importance of water – and he knew how
important it was that the Spirit, that unseen yet such real strength of God
should flow into our hearts and through our hearts in to the world around us.

On the last day of the
festival, the great day, while Jesus was standing there, he cried out, ‘Let
anyone who is thirsty come to me, and let the one who believes in me drink. As
the scripture has said, “Out of the believer’s heart shall flow rivers of
living water.” ’ Now he said this about the Spirit, which believers in him were
to receive;

As on this
fourth Sunday of Advent our thoughts turn to Mary, so too our thoughts turn to Nazareth, the spring with
its flowing water and to the water of life that Mary bore.

It’s a
wonderful, wonderful image.

There’s
something in the sound

There’s
something in the flow

Of living
water

Bubbling
up and bubbling over

And in
this water,

Water from
the spring of Nazareth

Bubbling
up and bubbling over

The water
of life

It was her
task

Fetching
the water of life

from one
day to the next

And her
task

Bearing
the water of life

Living
water

Bubbling
up and bubbling over

From one
day to the next

To
eternity

It’s a
wonderful message to take to heart. The
spiritual blessing Mary knew is a blessing we can take deep into our hearts, as
that love of God bubbles up deep within us, and from within us bubbles over
into our world.

I love the
feel of running water.

But … and
it is a big but.

We have
greetings from the people we got to know when we stayed in Bethlehem, greetings we shared from the Scout
Group when we welcomed the Peace Light on Wednesday evening.

Being in close touch with friends in Bethlehem
makes you very aware that all is not well with the water in Bethlehem.

You can’t
help but realise that water has become a very political issue in Palestine and the Palestinian
territories. The massive towns that
have been built on the hills around Bethlehem (imagine if big towns had been
built on the Escarpment in the last ten years and you get a feel for the
changes the Settlements have brought to Bethlehem in that period) have access
to the aquifers, to the wells and to the springs. But the Palestinian communities don’t. The Palestinians don’t have direct access to
water from the Jordan
either, although technically their territory is on the West Bank of the Jordan.

As a
consequence in Bethlehem
in so many of the houses on the roof tops you will see massive arrays of water
tanks. The water will flow through the
taps for a couple of days and then it will be cut off. It’s all controlled from outside the
Palestinian area. The charges for water are then so much higher.

The love
Mary that flows at Christmas deep into our hearts and through us is a love that
meets our deepdown spiritual needs.

But if we
are to take the story of Mary seriously then we need to realise that the love
that comes down at Christmas is a love that has to impact on the structures of
society on the systems that hold people down.

It’s
lovely to receive messages from the people we met in Bethlehem at Christmas. It was a real place then. And it is a real place now.

And the
Love of Christmas is about changing the realities of he world around us and its
systems that hold people down.

One of
those we have received greetings from is Alex Awad, Minister of the East
Jerusalem Baptist church.

What he has
to say this year makes you stop and think.

His thoughts focus on Mary.
And the song that Mary song. And
within that song these words in particular.

He has stretched out
his mighty arm

and scattered the
proud with all their plans.

He has brought down
mighty kings from their thrones,

and lifted up the
lowly.

He has filled the
hungry with good things,

and sent the rich away
with empty hands.

Luke 1:46-53

Mary, a key individual
in the Christmas story, was filled with the Holy Spirit when she sang these
revolutionary words that we seldom take to heart. In fact, Christians have succeeded, through
many years, in taming and domesticating the Christmas story to make it suit our
material culture.

However, the purpose
of revolution is to change the status quo and the reason behind the coming of
Christ was (and continues to be) to change the evil normality.

Mary tells us that the
first Noel aimed at bringing down political systems, lifting up the lowly,
challenging corrupt religious traditions, filling the stomachs of the hungry
and bringing down unfair economic structures.

Continuing to drift
away from the real meaning of Christmas, we will find ourselves drifting away
from Christ and true Christianity.

Let us this Advent
season, find our way back to the manger that challenged Herod and the Cross
that confronted many Caesars.

Sunday, December 15, 2013

Our Nativity Service this morning was in two parts.Carolyn started us off with something very handy for Christmas!And then Cooler invited us to imagine a nativity complete with mobile phones!

Nativity
Service Jaffa Cakes Talk 15th
Dec2013

Some children unwrap the large Jaffa Cakes box from under the tree.

This will come in handy!

There’s some messages on it…

CHRISTMAS SURVIVAL KIT

What do we need to survive Christmas?

Lots of patience and resources to cope with difficult journeys and unlikely
visitors arriving at inconvenient times?

Has Jesus been through that?

Yes certainly. Dealing with smelly visitors with muddy feet in the
middle of the night who bring their pets with them when you’ve just had a baby!
It’s not exactly the perfect Christmas you planned from John Lewis! Then the
next minute you’re dealing with royalty and then you’re running for your life.

Do we
really need to ‘survive’ Christmas?

When we read this we all know it refers to rushing around buying stuff,
cooking, cleaning, wrapping, organising, trying not to succumb to a cold or flu
and keeping all the family happy! But this has very little to do with the birth
of our Saviour.

Indeed, during a session with M:Ocean recently we asked ‘What would
Jesus think about Christmas?’ The children thought he’d actually be confused as
he wouldn’t recognise what he had started! (He might also get presents from
everyone in the world!)

Or
actually, can we not ‘survive’ without it?

Without God sending Jesus into the world to live and die for us we are lost
without hope in the darkness in all sorts of ways. We might have a ‘survival instinct’ but cannot ‘survive’.

But Jesus is the light of the world, the hope of the world, the way, the
truth and the life and ‘Surely
your goodness and lovewill
follow meall the days of my life,
and I will dwell in the house of the Lordforever.’ Psalm 23:6

CHRISTMAS STOCKING OVERFILLER

Typical of our culture today, we are tempted by bigger and greater and
more. A bulging stocking is better than a skinny one. Half the world ‘over
fills’ themselves while the others struggle.

What does
God say about this?

Jesus had strong warnings for ‘those who pile up
riches for themselves but are not rich in God's sight.” Luke 12:19-21

But
God is good and generous

Psalm 23:5 says that
God will prepare a banquet for me where all my enemies can see me; he will
welcome me as an honoured guest and fill
my cup to the brim.’ Or in some versions, ‘my cup will overflow’.

Romans
15:13

‘May
the God of hope fill you with all joy and peaceas you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the
Holy Spirit.’

John 10:10 says, ‘I
have come in order that you might have life - life in all its fullness.’

LENGTH COMPLIES WITH ELF AND SAFETY

Very funny!

How do we measure up?

Luke
6:38 ‘Give to others, and God will give to you.
Indeed, you will receive a full measure, a generous helping, poured into your
hands—all that you can hold. The measure you use for others is the one that God
will use for you.”

And just to double check the standards… How about
this version;

‘Give, and it will be given to you. A good
measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over, will be poured into
your lap. For with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.’

God doesn’t give stingy portions: measured, mean and
sparing. His love pours out and overflows if only we will receive it.

LONGER THAN THE AVERAGE
BRITISH SUMMER

We can probably relate to this joke! And it is a
big box of biscuits you have to admit. But it’s still not going to last
forever.

What
does last forever?

Psalm 39 :5-7 ‘How short you have made my life!In your sight my lifetime seems nothing.Indeed every living being is no more than a puff of
wind,6 no
more than a shadow.All we do is for nothing;we gather wealth, but don't know who will get it.

7 What, then,
can I hope for, Lord?

I put my hope in you.’

In the Christmas story, the angel says to Mary, ‘ “Don't be afraid, Mary; God has been gracious to
you.31 You will become pregnant and give birth to a son,
and you will name him Jesus.32 He will be great and will be called the Son of
the Most High God. The Lord God will make him a king, as his ancestor David
was,33 and he will be the king of the descendants of
Jacob forever; his kingdom will never
end!”

Luke 1:30-33and finally,

Romans 8:38-39 ‘For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor
principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come,39 nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able
to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.’

After lighting three Advent Candles and spending a time of prayer for the Hopes we have for ourselves, for others and for our world, the preparation we need to make to welcome Christ into our lives and the joy that we share at Christmas, our young people's group 'Cooler' introduced us to the #nativity

#nativity

Intro

Two thousand
years ago, angels played a significant role in bringing the message of Jesus’
birth to the world. Essentially angels
are messengers (it’s what the Greek word means), one way in which God
communicates with people.

So we have given
a bit of thought to how the nativity story might have looked if God and his
angels had 21st century means of communication ……..

Nazareth

Group
of 2 or three girls crosses the stage, chatting/checking phones, then separate,
leaving Mary on her own.

Reader 1: A teenage girl on her mobile phone,
receives an unexpected tweet from a contact she doesn’t recognise

(>>angelG
@mary hi don’t be afraid god has chosen you)

Reader 2: “Mary! Don’t be afraid. God has
chosen you to be the mother of his son, Jesus.”

(>>mary @angelG
omg!)

Reader 1: Mary couldn’t believe her eyes.It
took more than a few reassuring messages before she finally agreed to this
challenge.

(>>mary @angelG
ok)

Joseph
– on his phone/laptop in his workshop .

Reader 3: A little later, Mary’s fiancé Joseph is
interrupted in his work by a message that is not from a new customer or his
accountant

(>>angelG
@joecarpenter hi big news….)

Reader 4: “Joseph! Don’t be afraid! Mary is
pregnant and you are not the father. But
you mustn’t reject her; she is carrying God’s son, Jesus.”

Reader 3: Although rather stunned by this,
Joseph agrees to stick by Mary.

Mary
and Joseph standing or sitting together with a laptop/phone, looking frustrated
because they can’t find anywhere to stay.

Reader 1: Sometime later, they find they have
to go in person to Bethlehem
to comply with a government order.
Booking the bus was no problem; accommodation for a few days was more
difficult.

The
baby has been born. Having wrapped him up, Mary is cradling him and Joseph is
taking pictures on his phone to send to the family back in Nazareth.

(>> Instagram
picture of baby)

On the
other side of the stage, a group of shepherds are hunched over their tablets.
Occasional cries of ‘Goal!’ ‘Yess!’

Reader 3: The local shepherds out on the hills
are whiling away the night hours playing football games. All of a sudden … the screens freeze and dim and
the game is stopped. Messages fly in at
a great rate.

(>>#b excited
#bigevent JJJ gtgith gtgith JJ)

Reader 4: “Hey guys! Don’t be afraid! There’s
something much bigger happening. There’s a baby born down in town - the
promised Messiah. Go and check it out for yourselves.”

Reader 3: “Glory to God in the Highest” - with
impressive sound effects.

Reader 4: The shepherds are not sure quite what
to make of this, but something about the messages convinces them it’s worth
leaving their sheep to go and find this baby.

Shepherds
cross the stage to join Mary and Joseph, fall in front of the baby with some
sort of amazement, then get out their phones and start texting/snapping etc.
Move off to one side as reader 3 reads the last line below.

Reader 3: When they do so, their immediate
response is indeed to worship him, but then they just have to share the news
with their mates.

(>> snapchat/Instagram
pictures of shepherds and baby with ‘chillin with Jesus’ caption)

Reader 4: In no time, they are spreading the
good news to all their friends. This
continues as they return to their sheep and finish their shift, football games
forgotten.

Unknown location, then Bethlehem again

A bunch
of amateur astronomers looking through telescopes and checking results on their
laptops, looking very clever but rather puzzled by what they are seeing.

Reader 1: Meanwhile, a bunch of keen astronomers
see unusual events in the night sky and check out what this might be on
skymaps.com. They ask other enthusiasts in on-line forums for ideas on what it
might mean. They come to the conclusion
that someone special, a king, has been born and set out to see for themselves.

After a
bit of discussion they pick up their gear and set off. They appear to get lost a couple of times,
eventually end up with Mary and Joseph. Like the shepherds before them, they
are initially silent and adoring – before getting out their phones to take
pictures and tell others.

Reader 2: With the help of GPS and Googlemaps,
they set out across unfamiliar territory. After a couple of false turns, they
too arrive in Bethlehem
and find Mary and Joseph. For a short
time they forget their gadgets and technology to worship Jesus. But then they just have to share with their
fellow-skywatchers round the world just what the star turned out to mean and
what they have found.

>> starman1 @astroprof big star=#nativity not your
average king

>>starman2 posted an update on facebook

The
wise men leave some of their gear as presents for Jesus and then prepare to
leave. One looks rather shocked as he
gets a call on his phone; they confer together, then set off in a different
direction to the one they came in.

Reader 1: As they prepare to leave, one of them
gets an urgent message telling them to avoid Jerusalem on the way back as it is too
dangerous. After a quick check for
alternative routes and a bit of discussion, they set off home by a different
road.

Conclusion

By whatever
technology or none, the good news is to be shared. Mary, Joseph, shepherds and
wise men acted on the messages they received. They in turn passed on to others
what they had witnessed. By whatever
technology or none, we are to do the same.
Whoever you are, you have a role as an angel-messenger and there is a
part for you in this story.

#nativity
readers/actors stay on the stage and we (Mary?/Richard?) invite all the younger
children (and anyone else bigger!) in the story as shepherds, wise men, angels
etc. A group photo can be taken and posted (immediately?) onto the Highbury's Facebook page.

Sunday, December 8, 2013

DVD’s of films come complete with extras that include the
Director’s Cut and behind the scenes accounts of how the film was made.

This morning I want to share a ‘behind-the-scenes’ account
of how my thinking has gone this week in preparation for this Second Sunday of
Advent, as we light the second Advent candle and think of Preparation.

I settled on the themes for the Sundays of Advent about ten
days ago and worked out the readings, drawing on material from Embrace the Middle East as we are this Christmas supporting their
Syrian Appeal.

Thanks to encouragement from Judi and Shirley as they have
prepared their anthologies of Poetry and Prayers I have moved away from using
other people’s prayers on the front of the Order of Service sheet to putting
together my own short prayer reflection, seeking to encapsulate the theme of
the day, the sermon itself.

And so on Thursday morning I set to.

I would tell the story of John the Baptist in the first part
of the service and then focus on the song Zechariah sang at the birth of John,
the Benedictus.

The words of the Benedictus touch on the great themes that
are at the heart of our Christian faith.

‘Blessed be the Lord God of Israel,
for he has looked favourably on his people and redeemed
them.
He has raised up a mighty saviour for us
in the house of his servant David,
as he spoke through the mouth of his holy prophets from of old,
that we would be saved from our enemies and from the hand of
all who hate us.
Thus he has shown the mercy promised to our ancestors,
and has remembered his holy covenant,
the oath that he swore to our ancestor Abraham,
to grant us that we, being rescued from the hands of our
enemies,
might serve him without fear, in holiness and righteousness
before him all our days.
And you, child, will be called the prophet of the Most High;
for you will go before the Lord to prepare his ways,
to give knowledge of salvation to his people
by the forgiveness of their sins.
By the tender mercy of our God,
the dawn from on high will break upon us,
to give light to those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death,
to guide our feet into the way of peace.’

There are a lot of words there and so I began to look for
the key words and themes.

One leapt off the page at me.

‘Blessed be the Lord
God of Israel,
for he has looked favourably on his people and redeemed them

That word ‘redeemed’ means among many things ‘set them free’

That’s what our Christian faith is all about – we are ‘set
free’. A wonderful freedom to celebrate.

The next is a key thought.

He has raised up a
mighty saviour for us
in the house of his servant David,as he spoke through the mouth of his
holy prophets from of old,

There are those wonderful passages especially from Isaiah
that we shall be reading as Christmas approaches. They map out what it takes to rule in the kingdom of God
– they establish what it is that all Kings in the kingdom of God
should aspire too. And the tragedy of
those kings is that they failed to live up to these expectations. The wonder of these passages is that Jesus
got it – as he came to usher in the Kingdom
of God, to be the King of
kings, the prince of peace, he modelled all he did on these wonderful
statements.

One such passage is in the beginning of Isaiah 40.

Comfort, O comfort my people,
says your God.
Speak tenderly to Jerusalem,
and cry to her
that she has served her term,
that her penalty is paid,
that she has received from the Lord’s hand
double for all her sins.

A voice cries out:
‘In the wilderness prepare the way of the Lord,
make straight in the desert a highway for our God.
Every valley shall be lifted up,
and every mountain and hill be made low;
the uneven ground shall become level,
and the rough places a plain.
Then the glory of the Lord shall be revealed,
and all people shall see it together,
for the mouth of the Lord has spoken.’

A voice says, ‘Cry out!’
And I said, ‘What shall I cry?’
All people are grass,
The grass withers, the flower fades;
but the word of our God will stand for ever.
Get you up to a high mountain,
say to the cities of Judah,
‘Here is your God!’

See, the Lord God comes with might,
and his arm rules for him;
his reward is with him,
and his recompense before him.
He will feed his flock like a shepherd;
he will gather the lambs in his arms,
and carry them in his bosom,
and gently lead the mother sheep.

This is what John modelled his ministry on – it is what
inspired Jesus. And it has a wonderful
sense out of catastrophe, the catastrophe in the first instance of the
devastation of Jerusalem
and the destruction of exile, comes a sense of comfort … the Good News Bible
captures that finality well.

Encourage the people
of Jerusalem.

Tell them they have
suffered long enough

and their sins are now
forgiven.

Back to Zechariah’s song, the Benedictus.

I worked through it emphasising all the key words and
thoughts and phrases.

‘Blessed be the Lord God of Israel,
for he has looked favourably on his people and set
them free.He has raised up a mighty saviour for
us
in the house of his servant David,
as he spoke through the mouth of his holy prophets from of old,
that we would be saved from
our enemies andfrom the
hand of all who hateus.
Thus he has shown the mercy promised
to our ancestors,
and has remembered his holy covenant,
the oath that he swore to our ancestor Abraham,
to grant us that we, being rescued from the hands of our
enemies,
might servehim without fear, inholinessand
justice before him all our
days.
And you, child, will be called the
prophet of the Most High;
for you will go before the Lord to
prepare his ways,
to give knowledge of salvationto his people
by theforgiveness
of their sins.
By the tender mercy of our God,
the dawn from on high will break upon us,
to givelightto those who sit in
darkness and in the shadow of death,
to guide our feet
into the way of peace.’

The over-riding theme was one of ‘setting free’ and so I
felt all the rest filled out what that meant.

For me, the covenant, is the wonderful link of love between
the God who is love and the people who are God’s beloved in a relationship of
utter love. And so for me the word
covenant suggests the word ‘love’.

I then sought to encapsulate what this song is saying to me
in a prayer meditation for our Order of Service sheet.

Lord God,

Mighty saviour

You call us to be

A people set free

Set free from hostility

Set free from hatred
Set free with mercy

Set free in love

Set free to serve

Set free for holiness

Set free for justice

You call us

To prepare the way for you

A way of salvation and forgiveness

A way of light in a world of darkness

Guide us in that way of peace

It poses then for me a major question.

Is this an impossible ideal?

When God’s will is done on earth as it is in heaven this is
what it looks like.

Read on into Luke 3 and listen into what John the Baptist
goes on to say as the core of his message and he is passionate this is not an
impossible ideal.

He preaches a message of justice, of sharing, of caring in
following that way of peace.

Read on into Luke 4 and listen into what Jesus has to say in
that first sermon in the synagogue in Nazareth
and he is passionate this is not an impossible ideal.

Good news to the poor, sight to the blind is the keynote of
what he is about. His message is a
message of love for God, love for neighbour, love for enemy too. Forgiveness is the heart of the Gospel
message.

Jesus takes that passage from Isaiah 40 and many others like
it that map out what it takes to rule in a kingdom that is God’s and then
shapes his whole ministry, his whole understanding of kingdom and what it takes
to be king according to that pattern.

He invites us to pray ‘thy kingdom come, thy will be done on
earth as it is in heaven’ and expects us to take this pattern seriously.

It is not an impossible ideal!

Thursday was a busy day for me. In the evening we had the Church Meeting that
saw the confirmation that our new Governance documents have been approved and
sealed and the appointment of our new Ministry Leaders – Shirley
Fiddimore for Worship, Karen Haden for discipleship, Jean
Gregory for mission and outreach and Mary Buchanan
for young people.

The meeting over we set out the chairs ready for our
Christmas Café.

We got home and had just started to watch a TV drama when I
had a text from my older son with the news that Nelson Mandela had died.

We switched over and were absorbed with the coverage of his
death.

I found it most moving for all sorts of reasons. I come from a family who have always been
passionate in their opposition to apartheid.
We did not have South African fruit as I was growing up, we demonstrated
against the Springboks tour in 1969 to stop the 1970 cricket tour, my mother
had a photo of Nelson Mandela on her mantelpiece through the 80’s.

My mother was looking forward with eager anticipation to the
elections in 1994 when she died tragically in a road accident.

A couple of days after the funeral Felicity and I went to a
vigil in the Lady Chapel of Gloucester Cathedral on the day of the elections. We bumped into the son in law of my
predecessor in our Shropshire Churches, himself an Afrikaaner, a personal
friend of Desmond Tutu. It was a moment
of triumph touched with my own personal sense of tragedy at the loss of my
mother.

We shared the conference centre with South Africa’s
very first children’s parliament. On the
Saturday evening the phone lines were cut off and rumours began to circulate
that Nelson Mandela was going to visit.

On the Sunday evening the youngsters were all excited at the
prospect of seeing him the next day.

I found myself in conversation with a couple of their
leaders outside the squash courts.

What they said I have heard repeated time and again in the
last couple of days as tributes have been made.

“The wonderful thing
about Nelson Mandela is the way he was able to forgive.”

We had strict instructions not to go and listen to Nelson Mandela. I could not keep away.

First, he opened a herb garden of healing. Nearby was a choir in uniform – it turned out
they were prisoners from a local Gaol.
Nelson Mandela ensured that prisoners from a local prison would come
when he visited anywhere and he would speak to them.

They were the choir.
How moving it was to hear them sing "Nkosi Sikelel' iAfrika"
in rich harmony.

Nelson Mandela then was driven round to an enormous marquee
where he was to address the children.

I listened in from outside the marquee.

What he said was powerful.

When he spoke to the children, he spoke very directly of the
fear of illness and of dying – sobering thoughts when you think that a high
proportion of those youngsters were living with HIV Aids.

He urged them to he open about illness problems – in talking
and sharing is real help.

He spoke of the importance
of children to the future of the nation.
In ringing tones he challenged them, and all of us, to fulfil their
responsibilities as citizens and to be caring people.

He touched on
violence, On HIV Aids and on sickness too.

“Talk about it! Don’t keep it to yourself,” he said.

All of this was incredibly moving. Only a couple of weeks ago I had been at a
meeting with our local Palliative Care consultants – they said in the 19th
century everyone spoke of death and no one spoke of sex. Now everyone speaks of sex and no one speaks
of death. They were impressing on us how
important it was to speak of death and dying openly.

This was exactly Nelson Mandela’s message.
Very powerful.

Next year I must do Movember!!!

And then he spoke of
having TB and prostate cancer.

“They keep telling me
to go to the USA
and have it treated.

“But I say, no! What would people think of our doctors and
nurses if I said they were not good enough to look after me.

“They are good enough
and I will stay.

“When I die,” he said
and corrected himself. “If I die …” he
paused and laughter swept through the marquee.
“if I did I hope to go to the place where I will meet old friends. And when they greet me there I look forward
to being directed to the room where I will meet my ANC friends.

“Then I will say,
‘Send my prostate gland suffering from cancer to the USA. Their doctors are so wonderful; let them
treat it then. When they return it to me
I shall be back to see how you are all getting on.”

With more words about
the importance of caring he greeted the members of the Children’s Parliament
and his speech was over!

Great courage. Great
conviction.

Here was some who took seriously the principles of love for
God, love for neighbour, love for enemy too.
He took so seriously the challenge to forgive.

What a difference it made to Nelson Mandela and in the last
twenty years in South Africa. How much it is our prayer that that spirit of
forgiveness can prevail there in the months and years to come. How much it is our prayer that that spirit of
forgiveness can prevail in other troubled parts of the world and in our own
hearts too.

Let’s pause a moment in quiet and share in reading together
that prayer meditation that encapsulates the words of Zechariah’s song, the
Benedictus.

Friday, December 6, 2013

On 3rd November, 2003, I was
privileged to hear Nelson Mandela address the very first Children’s Parliament
in Johannesburg. Having only recently been diagnosed with
Prostate Cancer he spoke openly about his death.

For more than thirty years I have taught
on the Congregational Federation’s course equipping people for a wide range of
ministries in our church. Our
Congregational Institute of Practical Theology is in partnership with the University of Winchester and we offer a Foundation
Degree and an Honours Degree in Practical Theology.

In November 2003 I had the opportunity to
join with Theological Educators from more thirty countries world-wide who had
been brought together in Johannesburg by the
Council for World Mission,
our world mission partnership.

South
Africa’s very first Children’s
Parliament was meeting at the same time in the same conference centre. As the phone lines went down and it wasn’t
possible to ring home rumours began to circulate that Nelson Mandela would make
a visit.

The following are extracts from the
journal I kept at the time.

Saturday 1st November

We visited Soweto,
the home of Nelson Mandela and the ApartheidMuseum. We got back to the Conference centre to
discover the phone lines had gone down.

In all, a moving day.

Shame not to be able to
phone home – all lines are blocked!

Sunday, 2nd November

I had the opportunity to preach in a Johannesburg church in
the morning. At the end of the day I got
into a couple of conversations with youngsters attending the Children’s
Parliament. By now rumours were
circulating that Nelson.

Around supper I had some wonderful
conversations with some of the youngsters who
had come for the Children’s Parliament.
Three 16 and 17 year old boys in particular were thoroughly enjoying the
experience and looking forward with excitement in their eyes to the visit of
Nelson Mandela tomorrow!

They aren’t the only
ones. Wouldn’t it be wonderful to round
off the week by seeing (or even meeting!!!) Nelson Mandela?

“The wonderful thing about
Nelson Mandela is the way he was able to forgive.”

So commented one of the
leaders of the Children’s Parliament in a brief conversation by the squash
courts.

Monday, 3rd November

There was an air of eager anticipation in
the Conference Centre as our first morning session came to an end.

We broke for
coffee and many of us hovered by the windows overlooking a new garden Nelson
Mandela was to open.

There was a buzz
of excitement as a bus arrived first.

Young people
clad in prison clothes were escorted by their guards and stood in line waiting.

The security was
thick on the ground.

We were held
back behind closed, glass doors.

And then the car
arrived and a frail yet strong silver haired 86 year old Nelson Mandela
emerged.

The Security
Guard waved us outside.

I followed …
only to be called back. Our session was
about to begin and we must not miss it.

I heard my name
called out. I turned. But only for a
moment. This was an occasion not to miss
and I was not going to miss it.

Out into the
heat of the mid-day sun and a vantage point just behind the line of young
offenders. How close we were as Nelson
Mandela greeted first representatives of the first South African children’s
parliament whom Nelson Mandela was later going to address.

A woman
whispered in my ear, ‘That’s Imolo,’ she explained. ‘He is totally blind, and spoke so well in
the Parliament yesterday he has been chosen to greet the former Presidnet.’

A photo call, a
few words of greeting and Nelson Mandela came back down the path.

Then we realised
that the young prisoners were in fact a choir.
In wonderfully rich looked as he stood looking at those young
people. It was at his insistence, so we
were told, that a group of young prisoners should be bussed out to see him.

Nelson Mandela
returned to his car and I slipped into our session. We were sitting in silence reflecting on our
few days together. But I had already
done that with the listening group. I
knew that for the next half hour the listening group’s report was going to be
shared.

I could not
concentrate.

And then I
decided. In the silence of the meeting I
got to my feet and left.

“Aren’t you
coming to the marquee to hear Nelson Mandela speak?” The question one of the
excited staff members had asked me was ringing in my ears.

I followed the
stragglers still making their way to the marquee. Through a metal detector and my bag through
an X ray machine (I hope my photos haven’t been lost!!) only to meet a steward.

“Aren’t you from
the other conference?”

“Yes,” I said.

“Then you cannot
stay: this is for invited guests only.”

I took my leave
through the door on the opposite side of the marquee, and sneaked round the
back to the side entrance I had passed through only moments before.

In the bright
sun with other staff and onlookers I stood on tiptoe and watched as Nelson
Mandela gave his address to the Children’s Parliament.

He spoke of the importance of children to
the future of the nation. In ringing
tones he challenged them, and all of us, to fulfil their responsibilities as
citizens and to be caring people.

He touched on violence, On HIV Aids and on
sickness too.

“Talk about it! Don’t keep it to yourself,” he said. And then he spoke of having TB and prostate
cancer.

“They keep telling me to go to the USA and have it
treated.

“But I say, no! What would people think of our doctors and
nurses if I said they were not good enough to look after me.

“They are good enough and I will stay.

“When I die,” he said and corrected
himself. “If I die …” he paused and
laughter swept through the marquee. “if
I did I hope to go to the place where I will meet old friends. And when they greet me there I look forward
to being directed to the room where I will meet my ANC friends.

“Then I will say, ‘Send my prostate gland
suffering from cancer to the USA. Their doctors are so wonderful; let them
treat it then. When they return it to me
I shall be back to see how you are all getting on.”

With more words about the importance of
caring he greeted the members of the Children’s Parliament and his speech was
over!

I returned to
our session. They were still discussing
the Listening Group’s report. I sat,
half-aware of questions being put to the Group.
“Richard will answer that,” said the one chairing the session.

I grabbed the
notes from the person sitting next to me, whispered to the chair as he walked
up and gave me the microphone, “What was the question again? And Just about managed to get by answering it
and another question as best I could.

It turned out
the wife of the chaplain from Singapore
had also been there and she was pleased to know that I had heard the speech.

After boycotting
South African fruit for so long, demonstrating against the Springbok’s Rugby
tour in 1969, stopping the 70’s cricket tour and admiring Nelson Mandela’s
photo on Mum’s mantelpiece through the 80’s, having attended that wonderful
vigil on the day of his election (27th April, 1994) only a couple of
days after Mum’s funeral … this was a day not to miss!

To see one of
the world’s greatest statesmen and to hear him give such a powerful speech at
the first gathering of South
Africa’s Children’s Parliament was something
I would not have missed for the world!

A day to
remember for a lifetime.One last thing to do. A
phone call home.First
to Felicity who got Phil to the phone to hear the exciting news of my meeting
with Nelson Mandela! Well, as good as a meeting anyway!! It
was so exciting that I rang Dave too on his mobile. What a wonderful end
to the day!Telephone
lines outside the centre opened again this afternoon. Strange how they
went down just before Nelson Mandela’s arrival and came alive again just after
he left.Security
is security all over the world!

Richard Cleaves (6th December
2013 – the day after news of Nelson Mandela’s death)

Shaping our Church for tomorrow

Our sermons on Sunday mornings are exploring the way we can make that a reality.

Mapping the Church of the Future

As we re-shape the life of our church and dream dreams for the future of Highbury we are reading through Acts on Sunday evenings. Our series of sermons with the title 'Mapping the Church of the Future' is a 21st Century view of Acts.